Cops started alleged beating, bar workers say

Statements made days after altercation

September 12, 2007|By Angela Rozas, Tribune staff reporter

Within days of an alleged beating of four businessmen by several off-duty Chicago police officers in December at a West Loop tavern, employees of the bar told the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards that the officers appeared to have instigated the incident.

The alleged assault at the Jefferson Tap & Grille started shortly after one off-duty officer, for "no apparent reason," swept the balls on the pool table where the men were playing, announcing, "Game over," according to the employees' statements, made public in court filings.

When the businessmen protested, the officers grabbed them and began beating them, the employees alleged. The statements to OPS also describe how employees tried several times to get on-duty police to help but that the off-duty officers allegedly waved away responding officers.

The businessmen have filed separate lawsuits against the officers and the bar. Their attorney said the employees' statements prove that the businessmen were attacked without provocation and that authorities should have taken action sooner against the off-duty officers.

Former Police Supt. Philip Cline placed the officers on desk duty in March after the Tribune inquired about the alleged beating.

Six Jefferson Tap employees wrote out statements shortly after the incident. Five of them as well as the bar owner were interviewed by OPS and the Cook County state's attorney's office in the days and weeks that followed. The statements were filed publicly in Cook County Circuit Court last month as part of the ongoing civil lawsuit against the bar.

The altercation was captured on videotape and resulted in charges against three of the officers -- Officers Gregory Barnes and Paul Powers and Sgt. Jeffery Planey -- as well as an overhaul of OPS.

For the first time, the statements give descriptions of what employees heard. The videotape does not have sound.

According to the statements, none of the employees saw or heard the four businessmen do anything to justify the alleged attack.

"This confirms what my clients have said all along, that this was an unprovoked attack," Sally Saltzberg, the attorney for the businessmen, said Tuesday. "They had this information in December and did nothing about it."

According to the statements, the bar's manager let the bouncer go home about 2 a.m. because she knew some of the patrons in the bar were off-duty police officers. Some employees said all or some of the people involved in the altercation were drunk.

Later, one of the bartenders, Lindsay Vanderford, saw one off-duty officer, later identified as Powers, knock a table caddy to the floor. Vanderford walked over to the officers and asked them to calm the man down and to leave, according to the statements. She said she was told the officer had recently lost his father and was upset. Powers' father died in September 2006.

Vanderford then made a last call for alcohol. The businessmen -- later identified as Scott Lowrance, Adam Mastrucci and brothers Barry and Aaron Gilfand -- asked if they could play another game of pool, but the manager, Melissa Smith, instructed them to finish the one they were playing.

As the off-duty officers were leaving, Powers "scowled" at the men playing pool as the other officers pushed him toward the door, according to the statements. But one off-duty officer, later identified as Vincent Matthews, turned toward the table, pushed the pool balls into the pockets and said, "Game over," according to several employees. Matthews has not been charged, and a source close to the investigation said Tuesday that he is not currently a target.

Barry Gilfand protested, saying "What the hell, man! The bartender told us we could finish," waitress Emily Martin told investigators. She said the officers then grabbed one of the businessmen, later identified as Aaron Gilfand, and threw him to the floor.

Several of the employees described seeing the off-duty officers punch and choke Aaron Gilfand and Lowrance near the pool table while the businessmen said they didn't want to fight. The fight broke up for a moment, and Vanderford asked everyone to leave.

As one of the businessmen started to leave, an off-duty officer grabbed him and threw him against the wall, the employees said. The alleged attack spilled out into the street and into the vestibule in front of the bar.

Several employees pushed the bar's "panic button," which alerts their security company to contact police, and one employee called 911 twice, according to their statements. But several employees said they saw unmarked and marked police cars arrive, only to be waved away by the off-duty officers involved in the alleged beating. Eventually, several officers arrived and stayed to take statements, the employees said.

Attorneys for Planey and Barnes did not return calls for comment. Lori Lightfoot, attorney for Powers, declined to comment, saying anyone who does so based on "snippets of facts" is acting irresponsibly, as is the Tribune for writing a story that could impede her client's right to a fair trial.